How do you pack up 17 years?

I’ve lived here, in my current house, for the past 17 years. My parents have made  a couple moves when I was between the ages of 1-2, but  here is the only place I know to call home.

Our family has talked about upsizing to a larger home before but I never thought it would happen since we were so comfortable and settled in. But last summer, my parents started looking at listings and they fully committed to buying a new home. Though I was always the one to complain about never having enough counter space for baking or storage space for all of our stuff, I was sad when my dad suddenly announced to me that he bought a place. (Except for my sister, my mom, brother and I have never even seen the house before he bought it! My dad always makes big decisions on a whim. It’s never a dull moment with him ahaha).

Good thing we had a couple months of renovations to do at the new house. It gave me time to emotionally prepare for the big move, which is happening next week (eek!). I’m going to miss my neighbourhood. A lot. I took break from packing and studying to write this post because I’m feeling sort of overwhelmed with all this emotion (I know, I’m such a girl.) I’m staring at my moving boxes and wondering how in the world am I going to pack 17 years of my life and move away from the place that I grew up in.

Things that I’m going to miss:

1. My favourite autumn tree.

1. Being 20 minutes away from the seawall by running.

1. Being 40 minutes away from Granville Island and it’s beautiful water front.

4. One of my favourite summer spots: the baseball field

1. My secret “lookout and ponder about life” spot

1. Living in the same hood as these people:

1. The running routes that I’m so so so familiar with. My comfort places

1. The smell of summer nights.

1. The way the snow looks falling under the street lamp right in front of my house on winter nights.

1. The way the sun comes into my room at the peak of dawn during spring.

1. The way the sun sets and lowers behind the trees and buildings that I am so used to.

1. The sidewalks where my siblings and I spent countless childhood summer days and nights just biking away.

1. The ant hills in my backyard that my siblings and I used to spray down with the hose.  

1. The sounds of the traffic. It’s not going to be the same anywhere else.

1. Main st and its boutique cafes/vintage shops/restaurants.

1. My neighbours and their cute kids.

1. My backyard garden.

1. Everything.